{"id":23758,"date":"2022-12-15T16:23:16","date_gmt":"2022-12-15T16:23:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/15\/how-amazon-helped-ukraine-move-data-out-of-the-war-zone-and-into-the-cloud\/"},"modified":"2022-12-15T16:23:16","modified_gmt":"2022-12-15T16:23:16","slug":"how-amazon-helped-ukraine-move-data-out-of-the-war-zone-and-into-the-cloud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/15\/how-amazon-helped-ukraine-move-data-out-of-the-war-zone-and-into-the-cloud\/","title":{"rendered":"How Amazon helped Ukraine move data out of the war zone and into the cloud"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Since Februrary, Amazon has been playing Santa Claus to the Ukraine, delivering planeloads of goods, including blankets, hygiene kits, diapers, food, and toys, for the war-torn nation and refugees in Poland and other parts of Europe.<\/p>\n

But long term, what\u2019s more important to Ukrainians than the gifts coming in is what\u2019s going out: massive amounts of government, tax, banking and property data vulnerable to destruction and abuse should Russian invaders get their hands on it.<\/p>\n

Since the day Russia launched its invasion Feb. 24, Amazon has been working closely with the Ukrainian government to download essential data and ferry it out of the country in suitcase-sized solid-state computer storage units called Snowball Edge, then funneling the data into Amazon\u2019s cloud computing system.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the most technologically advanced war in human history,\u201d said Mykhailo Federov, Ukraine\u2019s 31-year-old vice prime minister and minister of digital transformation, referring not just to weapons, but data, too. \u201cAWS\u2019s leadership made a decision that saved the Ukrainian government and economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amazon\u2019s Ukraine effort, including data transfer via the \u201cSnowballs,\u201d as they\u2019re called, has cost about $75 million so far. Federov, speaking at a tech conference in Las Vegas earlier this month, called it \u201cpriceless.\u201d<\/p>\n

The data, 10 million gigabytes so far, represent \u201ccritical information infrastructure. This is core for operation of the economy, of the tax system, of banks, and the government overall,\u201d he said. The data also include property records whose safekeeping can help prevent theft of Ukrainian homes, businesses, and land.<\/p>\n

Through history, invaders have \u201ccome in and staged fake referendum and parceled out the land to their chums,\u201d said Liam Maxwell, head of government transformation at Amazon Web Services (AWS), the company\u2019s highly profitable cloud computing arm. \u201cThat kind of thing has been happening since William the Conquerer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Odessa Journal newspaper reported last June that residents of occupied Mariupol whose homes had been destroyed were being moved into the homes of citizens who had fled the area, and were being forced to locate those who left and pressure them to \u201ccooperate\u201d in some fashion with the Russians.<\/p>\n

Maxwell, who\u2019s based in London, had already working with Ukraine for years when it became clear by January 2022 that Russia planned to attack the country.<\/p>\n

At the time, Ukrainian law required the majority of government data and certain private data to be housed on servers in Ukraine. In February, parliament changed that law to allow the information transfer.<\/p>\n

On Feb. 24, the day of the invasion, Maxwell met for lunch with Ukraine ambassador Vadym Prystaiko at the Ukraine Embassy in London.<\/p>\n

They sketched out with pen and paper a list of the most essential data: the population register; land and property ownership records; tax payment records; bank records; education registries; anti-corruption databases, and more. The project involved 27 Ukrainian ministries, 18 Ukrainian universities, the country\u2019s largest remote learning K\u201312 school serving hundreds of thousands of displaced children, and dozens of other private sector companies including Ukraine\u2019s largest private financial institution, PrivatBank.<\/p>\n

The Snowball units, in their ruggedized gray containers, were flown from Dublin to Krakow in Poland. Then the Ukrainians \u201cspirited these devices over the border into the Ukraine,\u201d Maxwell said.<\/p>\n

After the data downloads, much of the information is sent to the cloud over secure networks, and the Snowballs, loaded with up to 80 terabytes of encrypted data each, are shipped back to Amazon. For good reason, Maxwell doesn\u2019t want to say where, but says \u201cit\u2019s a tense moment around the baggage carousel. Here\u2019s government in a box, literally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once it\u2019s in the cloud and distributed around the world, everyone breathed easier. \u201cYou can\u2019t take out the cloud with a cruise missile,\u201d Maxwell said.<\/p>\n

The mission required speed, organization, and deep technical skill. Maxwell said Federov, \u201ca man in a hurry,\u201d ticked all the boxes.<\/p>\n

Still, Amazon spent time training the Ukrainians on how the AWS system works. That free training has been extended to refugees in Poland and in other locations in Europe. There\u2019s an upside for Amazon, in addition to recognition for its efforts: Maxwell notes that the program is equipping those refugees with crucial tech skills \u2014 and in the process expanding AWS\u2019s talent base.<\/p>\n

Amazon didn\u2019t have to worry about its relationship with Russia on the Snowball project. It doesn\u2019t have one. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have anything to turn off there,\u201d Maxwell said. \u201cWe had never invested there. It\u2019s a point of principle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the project began, other countries have told Amazon they\u2019re interested in out-of-the-country cloud backups of government data. Maxwell wouldn\u2019t say which countries but noted keen interest from East Asia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n